A community-supported agriculture group (CSA for short) is an association of people who pledge to support local farms and share the risks and benefits of food production. The growers and consumers share the produce once it is harvested after investing at the beginning of the year. Some CSA’s also provide products such as eggs, fruit, flowers, honey, and meat. The subscription costs vary and a portion may even be in lieu of labor contributions. The term CSA is mainly used in Canada and US but there are other subsystems worldwide.

Biodynamic agriculture was formulated in Europe by Rudolf Steiner in the 1980’s. The system was brought to the US from Germany by Jan Vander Tuin from Switzerland and Trauger Groh in the mid-1980’s. Vander Tuin and associates formed the CSA Garden at Great Barrington in Massachusetts and The Temple-Wilton Community Farm in New Hampshire was created by Trauger Groh and his group.

However, an earlier system was created in the 1960’s Dr. Booker T. Whatley, a professor of agriculture in Alabama called the Clientele Membership Club. There also existed in Japan a similar model called a teiki in the 1970’s.

Today there are some 13,000 CSA farms in north America, mainly in the upper-Midwest, the Pacific coast, New England, the Northwest, and Canada.Their popularity is in direct correlation with environmental awareness as well as urban projects to grow food in cities for the homeless and disadvantaged residents. One such project is the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, which is spread across all five boroughs. The largest CSA is the Farm Fresh to You in Capay valley, California which supports 13,000 families. The oldest (17 years in 2012) is the Quebec CSA network.

This unique non-profit system provides finance to the farmers for improvements and new infrastructure as well as technical support and guaranteed customers. With involvement and funding from the consumers and stakeholders, it is a stronger consumer-producer relationship.Thus ensuring the quality of product and reduction of food waste.

Although each CSA has its own unique structure and marketing strategies the core ideology is the same shared funding and shared risk. Any surplus produce is sold at farmers markets, to local restaurants, on-farm retail and natural food stores. Unsold produce is sometimes given to local food banks.

I got the idea for The Lost Heir while in college. I’ve always been interested in the possibility of other worlds and beings similar to us existing and thought it would be neat to explore how someone from Earth would react in an alien environment. But the idea wasn’t enough to inspire me to start writing. I did it for my mom. She was an avid reader and is who instilled a love of reading in me. Originally, I didn’t even think about having it published. I just wanted to give it to her as a gift for a birthday or Christmas. Sadly, she died before I was able to finish it, but it is dedicated to her.

How did you come up with the title?

Coming up with the title for The Lost Heir was actually quite easy. Darrak finds out quite early on in the book that his distant ancestors were actually from Dragonath. A war was raged against the palace for rule of Dragonath. Although the palace ended up winning the war, their victory was exceptionally slim. The remaining survivor with royal blood fled to Earth until it was safe for her or her descendants to return. Darrak is that descendant and the rightful heir to the throne. Hence the title.

Is this your first book? How many books have you written (published or unpublished)?

The Lost Heir was my first book. I currently have three series going simultaneously. So far, The Dragonath Chronicles includes The Lost Heir and Awakening, both of which are published. The Vaelinel Trilogy has Silevethiel, which is published, and I am currently working on the second book in the series tentatively titled Chosen. My third series, The Legacy of Ilvania, is a series of short stories. Currently, Redemption and Reclamation are published on Kindle. Retribution is finished and ready for publication. There will be three books in each of the first two series. As far as The Legacy of Ilvania? Don’t ask me, because I have absolutely no idea.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

I’m going to answer this from all of my books, not just one. A running theme in all of my works is female equality and the empowerment of women. Sometimes it is subtle, while other times it’s extremely obvious. But it’s always there in one way or another. I’m a strong woman, more so now than I was before. I see and hear many instances in our society where women are afraid to stand up for their rights. We live in a society where women are bred and raised to believe they are inferior to men. That they shouldn’t stand up if they’re abused or raped. That their only worth in this world is to marry and have children. That they become property of their husbands and must obey them and look to them as the stronger and superior partner.

Whether or not my readers agree with this philosophy or not, I always raise the issue. I hopefully make them aware and make them think. But my message can and should extend further than female equality. It extends to all forms of equality. No one, regardless of their race, gender, or sexual orientation should be afraid to be themselves. No one should be afraid to stand up for their basic rights as humans and beings of this world. And if I can empower even a handful of people to find the strength to stand against their abusers or fight for their right to be treated as equal human beings, I’ve succeeded. If I can motivate just a handful of people to perhaps treat others with a bit more respect, then I will be the happiest little fantasy writer in the universe.

How much of the book is realistic?

All of my writing, although fantasy, is quite realistic and relatable. Obviously not as far as magic is concerned (much to my chagrin). And while we don’t have dragons or sorcerers or lions we can communicate with telepathically, the storylines are extremely real. I include real situations and issues into all of my writing. The result makes my fantasy extremely real and relatable. I’ve written about rape, abortion, religion, abuse, and widespread epidemics, to name a few. Everything is written within the confines of the world and story I’ve created, but my readers can empathize with situations in their own lives or real world events.

Are your characters based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Some are loosely based on people I know and events I’ve experienced. Inspiration is everywhere. But everything is quite specific to the world and story in which I’m writing. My characters grow and evolve based on what they experience. So even if the original idea I have for them begins from something I see or someone I know, it doesn’t remain that way for long. The characters lead me through the story. It’s their life. Their experiences. Their emotions. Not mine or someone else’s.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

Not a thing as far as content. Though if I had to do it again, I would have it printed in hardback instead of paperback. I had it printed in paperback to be consistent with The Lost Heir but I’m definitely partial to hardback.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I have gone through a lot this past year regarding discovering myself. I’ve worked on a number of problems and fears that stemmed from not being able to properly understand and grieve my father’s death when I was a child. It was a difficult process. Because of my problems and my desperate need for help that I refused to get until five months ago, I made a great deal of mistakes. My husband and I went through some extremely tough times, but we persevered and are about to celebrate a wedding anniversary we never thought we’d reach.

I’m sharing this because I know how hard it is to admit we have faults. I know how hard it is to face fears and overcome them. But the person I am today is far greater, stronger, confident, and happier than the person I was before.

Don’t be afraid to be yourself. Don’t look to others for happiness. Love yourself. Be confident in who and what you are. Be proud of what you’ve achieved. Have the strength to stand up for yourself and don’t let people take advantage of your weaknesses. You will be so much happier and content with who you are. Once you find happiness with yourself, you will find happiness with others and your relationships will flourish.

What is your favorite part/chapter of your book/project?

Wow! Tough question! I think my favorite scene is the second scene from the third short story in The Legacy of Ilvania, titled Retribution. It’s when Juriel goes to stand against her father and brothers after they beat her with the intent of killing her in order to restore honour to their family. Because I’m awesome, I’ll give you a little teaser. Be forewarned…this is NOT for younger audiences.

Before Juriel had a chance to respond, her father closed the distance between them. He hit her so hard she fell backwards, landing hard on her bum. She tried to stand, but his muddy boot slammed onto her chest and pinned her to the ground. “Süryn! Norn! Kint! Léthan!” he bellowed, calling to her brothers. “Look who’s come to play!”

One by one their faces came into view. Each one wore a more sadistic expression than the one previous.

“What do you say boys?” her father continued. “How about we show our Juriel how a woman gets knocked up? Maybe she’ll learn a thing or two about how to fuck!”

Her brothers’ laughter grated on her soul. Syrn knelt before her and her stomach turned. “Look on the bright side,” her father said tearing the front of her skirt to expose her bare legs, “if you survive your lesson, you won’t be as much of a fucking disappointment to your next husband should anyone find a miserable little whore like you worth taking as a wife!”

Her fury rose even more at her brothers’ jeers. They closed in around her. Spreading her arms and legs, they pinned them to the ground. Her father slid his hand up her inner thigh and over her vagina before grasping the tie on her knickers.

Now!

Juriel’s magic exploded from her body. All five men were thrown aside as if they were nothing more than rag dolls. They lay sprawled on the ground, dazed and confused. Juriel was up on her feet before any of them had a moment to recover. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother move toward Léthan. Letting out a rush of magic, Juriel paralyzed Berla before the woman walked two steps.

What is your favorite theme/genre to write?

I only write fantasy and lately have been leaning towards more of the darker themes of the genre. What draws me to fantasy is that, when done well, although it’s entirely make believe, it’s real. The characters experience the same feelings/emotions/experiences as us. They love. They hate. They feel joy, loss, fear, and betrayal. They face hardships. And although solutions to their problems often times involve a crafty combination of magic and swords, we can relate to them. We can learn from them even though we might not realize it until long after we’ve finished their story and placed the book back on the shelf.

Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? What is it?

No. I’ve already included subjects such as rape, abortion, abuse, and discrimination in my writing, to name a few. I will not shy away from anything else. If it fits with the characters, storyline, and situation, I will write about it. I am a firm believer in including powerful situations and issues in my writing that cause my readers to think. Whether or not they agree with the characters’ opinions or the actions they take is irrelevant. What’s important is that my readers are facing an issue and not ignoring it. Ignoring something doesn’t make it go away.

What book are you reading now?

I’m currently reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson and Brush With Darkness by Jamie Maltman. Both are for book clubs. One at a local bookstore and one online called Rave Reviews Book Club.

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

I’m becoming a fan of a few fellow indie fantasy authors. Kurt D. Springs, author of Price of Vengeance, Scott Marlowe author of The Five Elements and Jaxon Reed author of Redwood: Servant of the State. I am following all of them and looking forward to what they’ll release next. I think all of them have quite amazing potential.

Do you see writing as a career?

Yes, definitely. Writing is what I do full time. Between writing, daily promotion, and traveling for festivals/cons/signings, I don’t have much time for anything else!

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

I see myself doing exactly what I’m doing now: writing, writing, and more writing! Just with more tattoos and probably not a strand of hair on my head that’s a natural color. Who knows how many series I’ll have by then. The way I’m currently trending, it’ll probably be somewhere in the vicinity of three million. And I’m perfectly fine with that.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Actually, there really isn’t anything I find challenging. The biggest thing I would say is keeping the three worlds separate in my brain. I don’t outline or plan ahead, so everything is just up there, locked away in my mind. It’s not as difficult as one would think, which means I’m either a genius or completely nuts. You choose.

Have you ever hated something you wrote?

I don’t know if this is normal or not, but no, I’ve never hating something I wrote. I’ve evolved over the years and my style is much different than when I began, but even with that, I don’t hate my early writing. That being said, I have hated a character I wrote. Not in the sense that I didn’t write him well, but rather that I wrote him too well. Garenth from The Dragonath Chronicles is EXTREMELY misogynistic and a right prat. I remember editing Awakening and reading a scene with him and hating him so much I wanted to disembowel him with a vegetable peeler. … Don’t judge.

What book do you wish you had written?

This is a question I’ve never been asked and one that I had to take a great deal of time thinking about. I would have to say I wish I wrote Bloodfire Quest by Terry Brooks. It’s the only book I’ve ever read where I cried. The emotion he was able to instil in me was stunning and terribly beautiful. I felt an immense sense of connection with the characters and events. The underlying messages were touching and heartbreaking, yet done so in a magnificently subtle way.

What is your best marketing tip?

I suppose this answer technically contains two tips, but I’m going to tell you both of them anyway. Variety and frequency. People need to see you and your books often and in different forms. Now, we have the opportunity to get really creative with our marketing, which is awesome. But if our potential readers don’t see us and learn about us in different ways (interviews, guest posts, Q&A’s, promos, etc.) and they don’t see us often, they’re not going to become our readers.

What genre is your next project? What is it about?

Fantasy of course! I’m currently working on the second book of The Vaelinel Trilogy, tentatively titled Chosen. It continues Irewen’s journey to discover the truth about her heritage and stand against her cousin Elthad, the leader of the Drulaack who is seeking not only her death but also rule of Vaelinel.

After that, I will continue with The Legacy of Ilvania and begin the fourth short story. Don’t ask me what will happen. I have no idea!

Can you tell us about your upcoming book?

I can’t tell you anything for certain. Since I don’t outline or plan ahead, I really don’t know what’s going to happen until I write the specific scene or chapter. That being said, I will say Chosen has some exciting and unexpected happening. The enemy is now hunting Irewen in both reality and the world of the dead. And while fighting the Drulaack, Laegon became inflicted with a form of illness that is turning him mad. Both of them will be challenged to continue to find who they are as individuals while fighting to save the world of Vaelinel from destruction.

Join me in welcoming back M K Tuner and her intriguing murder mysteries.

What inspired you to write your first book?

A conversation with a friend. After a good gossip, she stated “They wouldn’t believe you if you wrote it down.” I decided to give it go, and using a mixture of the quirks and oddities from some colourful characters we knew I wrote a tongue in cheek, farcical, murder mystery, Murderous Mishaps.

How did you come up with the title?

As I never intended to publish the story, I called it Murder and Moet. Murder for obvious reasons, Moet, because the characters were on a weekend jolly, and were celebrating with champagne when the body was discovered. When I later decided to publish, my editor warned of using the brand name, so I asked Moet if I may use it, and they declined, stating, that while they were happy for me to refer to it within the body of the text, they didn’t think it appropriate to have the brand connected to murder on the cover. I was hoping they wouldn’t mind the extra advertising, albeit small, but it was not to be. I changed it to Murderous Mishaps.

Is this your first book? How many books have you written (published or unpublished)?

This was my first novel, and writing it did give me the spur to carry on writing, but I decided to test myself and see if I could write a serious murder mystery, and came up with the characters of DC John Meredith & Patsy Hodge, and wrote the first in the Meredith & Hodge series, Misplaced Loyalty. I have now published five novels in the series, the latest being One Secret Too Many, and am currently working on another, yet to be given a title. In addition I have now published Murderous Mishaps, and another novel, The Recruitment of Lucy James.

Are there messages in your novels that you want readers to grasp?

I don’t set out to send a message as such, but I do want readers to ask – Why? We all know the world can turn upside down when someone is murdered, and that the ripple effect reaches out into the community, sometimes in unexpected ways, and once over the shock of the act itself, the main question is – why? When I read a novel, irrespective of the genre, I want to know as much about the characters as the storyline will allow. I have read some cleverly crafted plots which have kept me guessing until the end, but when I don’t understand why a certain character would have – kept the secret, killed her aunt, left her husband, or any number of actions – I’m left wanting more because it doesn’t add up.

Therefore, however horrific the crime, I want the readers to know that both the heroes and villains are human, leading their own lives away from the main storyline, and it is what happens in those lives that affect how they react in different situations.

Are your characters based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

Of course, but never exactly, a mannerism here, an attitude there, and a snippet of gossip or news, which is screaming out to be exaggerated or explained.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

Good question, I’ll have to get back to you on that. In One Secret Too Many, I killed off a regular character and I’m not sure how that will go down with my regular readers. I agonised over whether or not I should for weeks. I even wrote two different endings, but ultimately, for me, it had to happen.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I want them to be entertained, engaged, and hopefully keep them guessing until the end.

What is your favorite part/chapter of your book/project?

That has to be the relationship between Meredith & Hodge. They were always going to be a couple, but the nature of their personalities and how they react to the issues they encounter is an ongoing challenge. Plus, of course, I don’t want them to be too predictable, so in each novel a situation will arise where they have to show a weakness or quirk that has not previously been revealed. Much like making new friends, just when you think you know what makes them tick, they will react to something in a way you would never have expected.

What is your favorite theme/genre to write?

Definitely mysteries or thrillers and when planning the story, I make it so there are several possible outcomes, and it’s not until near the end that I actually know ‘whodunit’, or perhaps why.

Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? What is it?

TI would never write erotica. However great the characters, after the first few sex scenes, for me it becomes boring and fairly predictable, and does nothing to enhance the story. I read Fifty Shades of Grey, and I liked the main characters, so much so, that I also read the second to find out what happened to Ana, but I found myself skimming page after page wanting to get back to the story. I didn’t bother with the third, a friend told me what happened, and I was disappointed.

What book are you reading now?

I have recently finished Diamonds and Dust by Carol Hedges, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Set in Victorian London, it is very atmospheric, with clever little one-liners hidden amongst the narrative, and left me wanting to know what happened next. It was the first Carol Hedges I’ve read, and I wasn’t disappointed. I now have a stack of authors I’ve yet to read on my kindle, but have yet to decide which one is next.

Do you see writing as a career?

In a way, yes, with the exception of family/dogs/household duties, it takes up more time than even my part time job. Will it ever pay enough to say it’s what I do for a living, who knows? But it is certainly what I ‘do’. Everything else is a necessity to get from one end of the week to the other, not necessarily unpleasant, but writing is a necessity for no other reason than the writing itself. I watch about an hour or so of television each day, and afterwards will think, that was funny, or entertaining, or had a great ending, etc. but I would rather be writing something and wondering whether I’d achieved one of those things.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

At my desk, staring out the window overlooking the beach and sea beyond, pondering the latest plot, and wondering whether to brave the heat and walk down to the local tavern for lunch. When I’m being sensible I hope I’m still selling books, and earning enough not to feel guilty about the time it takes up.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Promotion. Always the promotion. Editing is hard work, proof reading worse, but they help one to improve the finished product. It’s the telling the readers at large about the product which I find most difficult, and am sure most seasoned writers would shake their heads in wonderment at my feeble attempts.

Have you ever hated something you wrote?

Of course, many pages have been written and stories started, based on a great overall idea, but something was missing, or the character was good, but wrong for the story, so it ends up in the bin. Some survive awaiting the planned re-write, but most will wait in vain.

What book do you wish you had written?

So many! But to choose one, I suppose it would be A Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow. A gritty story, and follows the fortunes of Vic Brown and how he woos the girl he believes he loves, Ingrid. It shows how their relationship grows and ultimately fails. I was about fourteen when I read it, starry eyed and hoped every relationship ended with roses around the door. I kept hoping that something would happen to change the inevitable, and when it didn’t I re-read it to find out what clues I’d missed. They were all there, some subtle, some that smacked you in the face, and it helped me grow up a little. There were consequences to your actions, however small, which added to the domino effect which eventually gathers a momentum all of its own, bringing your ideals crashing down. To be able to draw a reader in like that, to make them hold their breath and care so much about the characters, that they try to will the characters to take a different route, all the time knowing they won’t, yet still keep them reading to the very last word, is a skill every writer wants. Of course I have read it as a cynical adult and still loved it.

What is your best marketing tip?

Do it! I hate marketing. It’s a necessary evil I don’t do enough of, or well. I get side tracked on social media, and irritated by form filling.

Can you tell us about your upcoming book?

As mentioned it’s the fifth in the Meredith & Hodge series, One Secret Too Many. Everyone, including Meredith has secrets that ultimately will cause their downfall. Meredith & Hodge are assigned cases with high stakes, and that one secret too many causes the death of one of the regular characters. But to find out how a bombing in Northern Ireland is related to killings in the former Czechoslovakia, and the Russian Mafia you’ll have to read it.